More hope for first time buyers with the Help to Buy Extension

Since it was launched in 2013, the popular Help to Buy scheme has enabled almost 170,000 households to buy homes; who may not otherwise have been able to.

An extension to the successful scheme was announced in the Autumn 2018 budget, now making it available until 2023 for first time buyers only ‘to ensure future support is targeted at those who need most help’.

This could benefit tens of thousands of extra buyers who are purchasing a new-build property, who under the scheme can get an extra 20% (40% in London) government loan, which is interest free for five years. If they also secure a mortgage from a bank or building society for 75% (55% in London), this means buyers themselves need to only find a 5% deposit.

As part of the changes, the government has also introduced new caps on house prices for qualifying properties in different regions, to reflect the huge variations in prices across the country. London will continue with a £600,000 cap, whereas the caps in other regions have been changed to 1.5 times the average forecast first time buyer price in an area.

Price cap for properties eligible for Help to Buy Equity Loan Scheme from April 2021 to March 2023:

£600,000 – London
£407,400 – South East
£437,600 East of England
£349,000 South West
£261,900 East Midlands
£255,600 – West Midlands
£228,100 – Yorkshire & The Humber
£224,400 – North West
£186,100 – North East

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP YOUR REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE.